Lumber-drier



(No Model.)

- O. R. VAN OSDEL.

LUMBER DRIER.

No. 368,704. Patented May 24:, 1887.

envr;

51 MM wax,

UNITED STATES PATENT OFFICE.

CHARLES R. VAN OSDEL, OF LA GRANGE, ASSIGNOR TO HIMSELF AND GEORGE W. STRAIGHT, OF CHICAGO, ILLINOIS.

LUMBER-DRIER.

SPECIFICATION forming part of Letters Patent No. 363,704, dated May 24,1887.

A Application filed J nne fli), 1886. Serial No. 206,602. (No model.)

To all whom, it may concern.-

Be it known that I, CHARLES; R. VAN Os- DEL, residing at La Grange, in the county of Cook and State of Illinois, and a citizen of the United States, have invented certain new and useful Improvements in Lumber-Briers, of which thefollowing is a full description, referencebeing had to the accompanying drawings, in which Figure 1 is a vertical longitudinal section; Fig. 2, a cross-section on line a; a: of Fig. 1; Fig. 8, a cross-section on line 3 y of Fig. 1.

The object of this invention is to connect a condenser with that class of dry-kilns known as progressive driers and to improve the construction and operation of this class of kilns or driers; and its nature consists in the several combinations of parts hereinafter described and claimed as new. 1

In the drawings, A indicates the drying chamber or space; B, the floor; (l, the roof; D, the dome or end elevation; E, the condenser; F, water-receiver; F, trough; G II I, doors; J, posts or frame-work for elevating the door I; K, lumber-trucks; L M, air-passages; N, heater; 0, partition in air-space; a b c, cords with weights for counterbalancing the doors; cl, a cross-board or frame, and e adjustingrods.

The floor, walls, and roof of the kiln are made in any of the usual and well-known modes and of anysuitable material. The drying space or chamber A may be'adapted to the material to be dried, and it is advisable to make it in such form in crosssection thata proper load upon the truck will nearly fill the space between the sides and the top. The floor is slightly inclined, as shown, so that the loaded cars will move of their own weight toward the door I, through which the trucks are discharged when the lumber is dried. This floor is provided with openings L and M for the passage and circulation of air, the hot air passing through slots or perforations at M of the heater N and the cool air descending through the grated or open passage L into the airspace beneath the floor B.

The coil or heater N is made of steam-pipes in any well-known manner, except that it is inclined to one side, as shown in Fig. 3, the better to get rid of the water of condensation.

The end at which the trucks enter is pro vided with an elevation or section, D, within which is placed a secondary door, H, and a condenser, E. This condenser is made of a series of metal pipes arranged in sections or folds one above the other, as shown in Fig. 2, which may be arranged in a single line, as

shown, or in two or more lines, as may be de sired. This condenser is arranged within the elevated space, so that the loaded trucks may pass beneath it, and so as to furnish a sufficient space for all of the air circulating to pass through the condenser. The bottom of the condenser is provided with a trough, F, which is arranged to receive the water from the condenser E and to conduct it outside of the kiln. The condenser will also be so connected with a tank or otherwise arranged that a stream of cold water will flow through it and keep it cool.

The door H divides the cooled or cold air space from the kiln and prevents an interior circulation, and also causes the colder air to pass through the opening or openings I}, down and beneath the floor or partition 0. The doors G and I are ordinary doors common to that class of kilns which provide for the entrance and discharge of truck-loads of lumber or other material to be dried. Thetrucks K are of the ordinary construction, and the floor is provided with rails or tramways, upon which the wheels run.

In the operation of filling and discharging the kiln,'suitable trucks being provided, the trucks are entered through the doorways G and H, and, after the kiln is once filled, as each car of dried lumber is discharged at the door I another is entered through the door G, thus keeping the greener lumber at the rear and advancing the lumber as it dries, as in other progressive kilns.

In the operation of drying, the air is heated by the heater N and passes up between the space or spaces M into the drying-chamber, and from thence it passes to the rear, through and around the lumber, until it reaches the end of the drying-chamber, whereit passes up overthe doorH, then through the condenser E, where the surplus of its moisture is extracted, then down in the chamber or passage between the doors G and H, through the openings L, and again into the space beneath the floor B or partition 0. By this arrangement I am than the top of the door H and improves the enabled to thoroughly dry the eontainedlumher by substantially the same body of air thus put into circulation. As the air leaves the lumber it'is surcharged with moisture, and, coming in contact with the cold pipes of the condenser E, the surplus moisture is discharged and the air made sufficiently dry for returning it to the heater and drying-chamber.- This is a very advantageous arrangement, and especially so in cold weather, as the air, after passing the condenser, is not as cold as the exterior atmosphere, and therefore requires much less heating to bring it to the proper temperature for the best results in drying.

The partition-projection d causes the heated air to pass to the condenser at a point higher uniformity of air currents or movements. It may be a crosssupport for the trough F, or it may form a part of it. The trough F is made of or lined with pure sheet-lead, which is not affected by the wood acids, as is iron or tin, and does not warp or check, as wood is liable to do, and the frame-work F and partition d may be lead lined or covered. It will be advisable to usethis projection or partition even when the door H is placed on the other side of the condenser, as it may be if it is not carried too far away from the condenser, and this door may be made in two parts hung on hinges when it is not desirable to carry the condenser high enough to furnish a space for it.

In order to prevent the air-currents from reversing, as they might do under theinelination of the floor, I have provided a partition, 0, which prevents this, as it makes the point of entry for the colder air lower than the discharge'opening for the heated air. This partition may be made in the form shown, or it may be a simple vertical partition, and it may also be made adjustable by the adj ustingrods 6, so as to make the point of entry for the cooled air higher or lower, and by placing a vertical cross-board at the lower end the flooring above it may bedispensed with, except that between the door H and the openings L and that between the partition 0 and the heating-coil, and by extending the partition this part may be omitted.

In the ventilated or circulating kilns now in use the opening at the lower end of the kiln is short or narrow, so that, at the best, the heated airis only applied directly to one truck. In my kiln I make the opening M from twelve to sixteen feet long and of the full width of the kiln,thus leaving the heated and expanded air to pass up in large volumes or quantities I and apply itself to two or three trucks or carloads with equal if not better results than when applied to only one load or car.

By the constant action of expanding the air at one end of the kiln and contracting 'it at the other end I secure and maintain a rapid circulation of the air, and at the same time I extract the surplus moisture, so that the surface of the lumber is not scalded, stained, or molded, and, as for the same body of lumber plied to brick, vegetable, and other driers or Y kilns; and for the purpose of preventing the escape of the heated air and the disturbance.

of the circulation in the chamber an inclosed extension for discharging a car may be placed around the door I, with an end or side door, as may be most convenient.

I do not claim, broadly, the application of a condenser to a drying-kiln; but

What I claim as new, and desire to secure by Letters Patent, is

1. In a drying-kiln, the combination of a drying-chamber having an elevated space at one end, an elevated air-cooling chamber adjacent to and communicating with the elevated end of the drying-chamber, a condenser located in the upper part of said'air-cooling chamber, a door separating the lower parts of said chambers, but permitting them to commu nicate at the top, a space beneath said chambers communicating directly with each chamber through openings in its floor, and a heater located in said space beneath the flooropenings of the drying-chamber, substantially as described. 1

2. In a drying-kiln, the combination,with a drying-chamber, a cold-air chamber, and a bers and communicating with each, of an adjustable partition located in said space to prevent a reverse circulation, substantially as described.

3. In a drying-kiln, the combination,with a drying -chamber, a cold-air chamber, said chambers communicating at the top, and a condenser located in the upper part of the cold'air chamber, of a door separating the lower parts of said chambers and a partition, (I, located above said door, substantially as described.

4. In a drying-kiln, the combination of the drying-chamber A, having an elevated space at one end, the adjacent elevated air-cooling chamber D, door H, separating the lower parts of said chambers,but permitting themto communicate at top, the condenser E, located in the upper part of the cooling-chamber, a space beneath the inclined floors of the drying and cooling chambers and communicating therewith through openings M L, a heater, N, located in said space-beneath the openings that communicate with the drying-chamber, and an inclined partition, 0, located in said space near the bottom of the cooling-chamber to prevent a reverse circulation, substantially as described.

CHARLES R. VAN OSDEL. 

